List<string> -> xml deserialization

Question

I am having the following xml file :

<ItemList>
    <Item id="item-aa-00" status="TYPE1">
        <Elements>
            <element>element121</element>       
        </Elements>     
    </Item>
    <Item id="item-aa-01" status="TYPE2">
        <Elements>
            <element>element122</element>
            <element>element123</element>
            <element>element124</element>
        </Elements>     
    </Item> 
</ItemList>

I am trying to deserialize it using the following model :

[DataContract]
public enum ItemStatusEnum
{
    [EnumMember(Value = "TYPE1")]
    TYPE1 = 10,
    [EnumMember(Value = "TYPE2")]
    TYPE2 = 20
}

[XmlRoot("Item")]
[DataContract(Name = "Item")]
public class ItemDto
{

    [DataMember(Name = "id")]
    [XmlAttribute(AttributeName = "id")]
    public string Id { get; set; }

    [DataMember(Name = "candidateElements")]
    [XmlIgnore]
    public IEnumerable<string> Elements { get; set; }

    [XmlArray("Elements")]
    [XmlArrayItem("element"), Browsable(false), EditorBrowsable(EditorBrowsableState.Never)]
    public List<string> CandidateElementsSurrogate { get { return Elements .ToList(); } set { Elements = value; } }

    [DataMember(Name = "status")]
    [XmlAttribute(AttributeName = "status")]
    public ItemStatusEnum Status { get; set; }

    public ItemDto()
    {
        this.Elements = new List<string>();
    }

}

[XmlRoot("ItemList")]
[DataContract(Name = "ItemListDto", Namespace = "")]
public class ItemListDto
{

    [XmlElement("Item")]
    [DataMember(Name = "myElements")]
    public List<ItemDto> myElements { get; set; }

}

This model manages to deserialize my xml file, but the Elements collection remains empty. What i am missing ?

Answer 1

I have changed this two properties and could deserialize your xml:

[XmlIgnore]
public List<string> Elements { get; set; }

[XmlArray("Elements")]
[XmlArrayItem("element")]
public List<string> CandidateElementsSurrogate { get { return Elements; } set { Elements = value; } }

i have removed DataMember Attributes, they are not used by deserialization.